First and second preferences for Ken solidify
- LibDem President Hughes urges second vote for candidate with experience of London
Simon Hughes, the President of the LibDems, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey and former Lib Dem Mayoral candidate, has urged voters to cast their second preference for someone who had served London already - seen as a call to vote for Ken Livingstone in the second round today to stop Tory Boris Johnson. It came as the Independent newspaper backed a first preference vote for Green Sian Berry and a second preference for Ken.
Meanwhile the Guardian has published four pages of comments from Londoners from all walks of life expressing strong opposition to the election of Boris Johnson under the headline "don't choose the clown".
Simon Hughes ‘enthusiastically' called for a first preference vote for Brian Paddick, the Lib Dem candidate who he said: ‘has served this city with dedication for his whole career.'
But Simon Hughes added: ‘I hope all voters will use the same test to decide their second vote as well. Nobody who has not served London and worked for London in the past deserves to have the votes of Londoners or the top political job in London in the future.'
The comments by the senior LibDem MP have been taken as a strong endorsement of Ken Livingstone in the second round of voting.
In the Guardian Zoe Williams writes: ‘We know what London is. Boris is not London.' Among the Guardian's list of those expressing opposition to the election of Boris Johnson or support for Ken Livingstone's re-election are Alan Rickman, Vivienne Westwood, Will Self, Bonnie Greer, David Mitchell, Arabella Weir, Blake Morrison, Ben Okri, Bianca Jagger, Dave Rowntree and Kwame Kwei Armah.
Alan Rickman, actor and director:
'If Boris Johnson gets elected it would be a case of the lunatic having no clue how to run the asylum. Good luck to Ken, good luck to all of us.'
Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer:
'Boris as mayor? Unthinkable.'
Bonnie Greer, writer:
'Boris Johnson in the role of mayor would feel like being trapped on the set of The Wizard of Oz minus the soundtrack and the Technicolor. His election would be the ultimate triumph of the Kensington and Chelsea gulag and the Bullingdon Ascendancy. Please, London. I moved from New York City, for God's sake, to live among you. Don't choose the clown!'
David Mitchell, comedian
'Boris as mayor? Lovely to see other comedians getting work, but four years is a bit long for a comedy routine.'
Arabella Weir, actor and writer
'I will go on hunger strike and throw myself in front of the next horse at Ascot if he wins. Failing that I was going to say I'll sleep with him, but he'd probably say yes. So instead I'll chain myself to the railings of his house. And then I'll move out of London. How do we trust a guy who says he knows about London, when he's just taken three of his kids out of state school and put them into private schools? That's a man in touch with the people. He's loathsome. He's everything that's wrong with the upper classes at their worst. Limited, pompous, without any breadth of vision or sense of inclusion. But I don't even think he thinks he's up to the job. He said it for a laugh, is my guess, and now he's got to go through with it.'
Blake Morrison, writer
'I'm about to go to Australia and if Boris gets in maybe I'll stay there. If London's cleaner, friendlier, better run and more integrated than it used to be, that's partly down to the current mayor. What will Boris do to it? His policies are vague, but past views he has expressed on race and gay marriage inspire no confidence. And the contempt he once showed for the inhabitants of another British city, Liverpool, should rule him out of running this one. All he's got going for him is fun straw hair and toffish insouciance. London deserves something more serious.'
Ben Okri, novelist
'Sometimes folks live through something a bit like a golden age and don't know it. I think we've been living through one such thing in London. It's easy to lose a good thing, and it takes wisdom to recognise that it is a good thing.'
Bianca Jagger, campaigner
'As a human rights campaigner who is concerned about climate change, I am personally supporting Ken Livingstone for Mayor of London. He is committed to addressing the impending climate change disaster. I regard him as a 'Mayor for Peace': he opposed the war in Iraq and he opposes nuclear weapons. He doesn't make decisions because they are popular, but because he feels they are morally right.'
Will Self, novelist
'I'd feel that we had a buffoon as mayor instead of a reptile, and whatever my disagreements with Livingstone - and they are legion - at least he understands what a swamp this city is.'
Kwame Kwei Armah, playwright and actor
'If Boris were elected, I'd feel confused. I would find it challenging that we so willingly condescend to America, and laugh that someone like George Bush could be made president, and then elect someone who is willing to play the buffoon to run one of the most important capitals in the world.'
Dave Rowntree, ex-drummer, Blur
'It's hard to know what a Boris victory might mean for London because all he offers are vague, uncosted, headline-grabbing policies. He says he'll cut crime, but how? He says he'll tackle immigration, but his proposal is to have a debate - well, what the hell does he think is happening at the moment? The upshot for London could be disaster: he can't possibly do what he says he's going to do because he's got no clue as to how he's going to do it. It's all part of his programme to come across as some bumbling, lovable moptop, but the reality is he's a rightwinger posing as a moderate and that's very dangerous for London.'
Ends
Simon Hughes' comments:
http://davehill.typepad.com/london3ms/2008/04/simon-hughes-4.html
Guardian, ‘Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid': http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/may/01/boris.livingstone
Independent editorial: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-if-newspapers-had-a-vote-this-one-would-put-its-cross-beside-818670.html